DEC 21 ---PHOTO: A farmer prepares coconuts to be made of copra at a coconut farm just
next to the seashore in Hernani town, Eastern Samar.
AFP photo (MANILA
TIMES) Life is a constant throw of the dice for farmer Nilo
Dilao and other residents of Samar, the ground zero for many of East Asia’s
deadliest storms. Homes, boats, crops, livestock and jobs are all on the
line each time the monster winds roar in from the Pacific Ocean, leaving
survivors to mourn their dead and pick up the broken pieces, year in and
year out. “Life is a struggle here,” Dilao, 43, told Agence France-Presse a
few days after Typhoon Ruby (Hagupit) destroyed his shanty and killed more
than 20 people this month. He likened the plight of local people to those of
stray chickens. READ FULL REPORT...

ALSO in Tugas, Bantayan: The gift of presence (Gawad
Kalinga)

DEC 21 --PHOTO: Gawad Kalinga is present in almost every province in
the country, spread in over 2,000 organized communities and
affecting 60,000 families. There are 16 Area Coordination Teams that
are on ground, going where help is needed the most. The GK model has
also been adopted in other developing nations like Cambodia,
Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. It is also in the forefront of
peace-building work in conflict areas in Mindanao and reconstruction
work in post-disaster communities. MANILA, Philippines - This is an
edited extract from the book, “The Genius of the Poor,” which
recounts the author’s 2013 journey visiting GK communities
nationwide. Last year, the venue for my Christmas celebration was a
glitzy night club in Metro Manila. This year it was GK (Gawad
Kalinga) Tugas Village in Bantayan (Nothern Cebu), and the
“discotheque” is a small, wooden gazebo. CONTINUE READING...

For the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), 2014 was a year of scandal
that saw its transformation from premier prison facility to a center
of illegal trade in drugs and guns. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima
has enlisted the help of law enforcement and intelligence agencies –
the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) –
to neutralize well-entrenched syndicates operating inside the
nine-hectare prison facility. For the past years, gang leaders
“living like kings” have succeeded in continuing to direct their
illegal activities from inside the prison, said De Lima. READ FULL
REPORT...

ALSO: House fails to vote on Noy’s impeachment
raps

The moves to impeach President Aquino are still hanging in the
air, with the House of Representatives adjourning its session last
Wednesday without finally dismissing the three complaints against
him. The House failed to vote on the justice committee
recommendation to throw out the complaints filed by Aquino’s critics
and endorsed by militant party-list representatives belonging to the
Makabayan bloc. The same group doggedly tried to remove then
President Arroyo through the only legal means to do so by filing
annual impeachment cases against her. Arroyo’s allies consistently
threw out the complaints. Last Sept. 2, the justice committee,
chaired by Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., who belongs to the ruling
Liberal Party, voted overwhelmingly to dismiss the three complaints
against Aquino. READ
FULL REPORT...

ALSO in Tacloban: South Koreans leaving behind
grateful nation

PHOTO: HEAD OF MISSION LEYTE Col. Lee Chulwon, head of
the Korean Araw joint contingent,welcomes Defense Secretary Voltaire
Gazmin to the Korean Memorial Park at Barangay Candahug in Palo
town. DANNY PETILLA --PALO, Leyte—A few
days before Christmas last year, Col. Lee Chulwon was preparing for
the holidays with his family in his native Seoul. But instead of
spending the holidays with his family, Lee, on orders from his
government, embarked on South Korea’s largest peacetime humanitarian
mission ever: help its close ally the Philippines recover from the
destruction brought by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name:
Haiyan) -----Asian laggard An ardent student of
history, Lee is mystified by the Philippines’ falling behind its
neighbors. An Asian economic powerhouse in the 1960s next only to
Japan, the Philippines has lagged behind other economies in the
region (39th in 2013 gross domestic product [GDP], at $272 billion)
even with rising economic growth, while South Korea, economically
backward in 1962, has vaulted to the top (14th in GDP in 2013 with
$1.22 trillion).READ
FULL REPORT FROM THE BEGINNING...

ALSO: LRT, MRT fare up on Jan. 4

Starting January 4, 2015, riders of the Light Rail Transit (LRT)
1 and 2 and Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT) will have to pay more because
the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has
finally decided to increase fares for the three rail lines. “It’s a
tough decision, but it had to be made. It’s been several years since
an increase was proposed. We delayed its implementation one last
time until after the Christmas season. While 2015 will see increased
fares, it will also see marked improvements in our LRT and MRT
services,” DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said on Saturday.
Under the new rates, a base fare of P11 will be implemented. An
additional P1 will be charged per kilometer. The increase is in line
with the 2011-2016 Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (PDP).
The PDP directs the adoption of the “user-pays” principle in the
pricing of transportation services. Currently, the government
allocates P12 billion a year to subsidize LRT and MRT operations.
Under the “user-pays” principle, riders will shoulder more of the
cost for their own trips. The fare hike entails a shift from the
current zonal fare scheme to a distance-based system, meaning that
commuters will be charged based on the distance they travel.
ROSALIE PERIABRAS THIS IS THE FULL REPORT FROM THE MANILA TIMES

PHOTO: CHEd Chair Patricia Licuanan ---PHILIPPINE Accrediting Association of Schools,
Colleges, and Universities (Paascu) president Fr. Joel Tabora, SJ
filed criminal and administrative complaints before the Office of
the Ombudsman against Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
Chairperson Dr. Patricia Licuanan and the president of a computer
group over an alleged anomalous deal with a private company. The
same complaint was lodged against Leo Querubin, president of the
Philippine Computer Society (PCS).Fr. Tabora was assisted by Paascu
legal counsel Joseph Noel Estrada. The complaint is based on a
Memorandum of Agreement dated April 21, 2014, where the commission
allocated to the PCS P10 million as mobilization fund for the
creation of an accrediting body to be known as the PCS-Information
Computing Accreditation Board (PICAB). READ FULL
REPORT...

READ FULL MEDIA
REPORTS HERE:

Typhoon Ruby victims struggle to survive

A farmer prepares coconuts to be made of copra at a coconut farm just
next to the seashore in Hernani town, Eastern Samar.
AFP photo

MANILA, DECEMBER 22, 2014 (MANILA TIMES) Life is a
constant throw of the dice for farmer Nilo Dilao and other residents of
Samar, the ground zero for many of East Asia’s deadliest storms.

Homes, boats, crops, livestock and jobs are all on the line each time the
monster winds roar in from the Pacific Ocean, leaving survivors to mourn
their dead and pick up the broken pieces, year in and year out.

“Life is a struggle here,” Dilao, 43, told Agence France-Presse a few days
after Typhoon Ruby (Hagupit) destroyed his shanty and killed more than 20
people this month.

He likened the plight of local people to those of stray chickens.

“We’re scratching at the soil non-stop in hopes of finding a scrap to eat,”
he said.

Ruby came a year after Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), the strongest ever
storm recorded on land, killed 7,350 people on Samar and neighboring
islands.

Samar is often the first major Asian landmass hit by the more than 20
tropical storms or typhoons that are born in the Pacific Ocean each year.

With much of the mountainous island stripped by deforestation, most of its
1.8 million residents live on narrow, sea-level strips along the coast, at
the mercy of the storms’ ferocious winds and tsunami-like ocean surges.

Living in the town of Taft on Samar’s east coast, the Dilao family survived
the storm surges of Yolanda and Ruby by fleeing to a nearby hill, waiting
them out under a raggedy tent made of bamboo frames and a tarpaulin sheet.

In nearby San Julian, small-scale farmer Benjie Baldenero was also
struggling to cope with having lost his home after Yolanda when it happened
again when Ruby battered the region.

The 40-year-old spoke of pledging the next harvest as collateral so he could
borrow money to rebuild his grass hut again and replace flooded rice
seedlings.

“We have not even repaid last year’s debts and here we are needing to take
out more loans,” Baldenero told Agence France-Presse.

Typhoons and guerillas

The vicious cycle ensures Samar and the neighboring island of Leyte are
among the poorest regions of the Philippines, accounting for just 2.2
percent of national economic output.

“Bad weather plays a major role in shaping our economy because typhoons
destroy practically everything in their path,” Ben Evardone, a congressman
and former governor of Eastern Samar province, told Agence France-Presse.

Six in 10 people on Samar’s east coast are poor, according to government
data, fuelling a decades-old communist insurgency that has largely petered
out across the rest of the Philippines.

Samar is one of only five regions of the country where New People’s Army
rebels are still active, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Noel Detoyato
told Agence France-Presse.

“They continue to attract followers due to the poverty,” he said.

Typhoons and guerrillas also mean the island attracts few outside investors,
Evardone
said.

There are few jobs available except farming and fishing, which are among
those most vulnerable to the extreme weather.

Those in the few other industries also suffer during the storms.

Jaime Caballa, 53, saw his restaurant in the university town of Can-avid
ripped apart by Ruby, then ransacked by looters.

With banks unwilling to lend without collateral and his modest savings
gutted by Yolanda, the father-of-four now has to deal with loan sharks to
finance repairs.

“The restaurant was shuttered for a week after Yolanda. This time, we’ll
likely be out of business for months,” he told Agence France-Presse.

The extreme weather leaves the island with coconuts, also the Philippines’
principal export crop, as the main source of income.

Farmers also plant much less valuable sweet potatoes, cassava and taro to
supplement their rice-based diet.

But even coconuts are no match for the strongest winds.

Yolanda destroyed most of the island’s coconut industry last year, felling
more than 33 million trees across the central Philippines according to
official estimates, while Ruby took care of much of what was left.

“It takes seven years for coconut trees to bear fruit. In the meantime, what
will our people do? The impact of these typhoons will be felt over a long
time,” Evardone said.

Exodus

Many Samar residents leave the island if they can.

Samar and Leyte are well-known sources of unskilled domestic workers and
laborers for Manila as well as Cebu City.

Many educated residents also eventually move out, said Cristina Colico, 36,
a lawyer and San Julian native who now works at the central bank in Manila.

“Samar residents can endure the storms, that’s not why they leave,” she told
AFP.

“They just want to look for better jobs elsewhere.”

But this option is not always open to unskilled workers.

“I wish we could move elsewhere, but in reality we know we have nowhere else
to go,” said Dilao the coconut farmer.

Gawad Kalinga is present in almost every province in the country, spread
in over 2,000 organized communities and affecting 60,000 families. There are
16 Area Coordination Teams that are on ground, going where help is needed
the most. The GK model has also been adopted in other developing nations
like Cambodia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. It is also in the forefront
of peace-building work in conflict areas in Mindanao and reconstruction work
in post-disaster communities.

MANILA, Philippines - This is an edited extract from the book, “The
Genius of the Poor,” which recounts the author’s 2013 journey visiting GK
communities nationwide.

Last year, the venue for my Christmas celebration was a glitzy night club
in Metro Manila.

This year it was GK (Gawad Kalinga) Tugas Village in Bantayan (Nothern
Cebu), and the “discotheque” is a small, wooden gazebo.

There was no booming sound system – instead, we relied on our own voices,
or on the music provided by one man’s basic Nokia mobile phone.

The lighting, meanwhile, consisted of a single torch, its fading
brightness being the only thing that saved this community from complete
darkness.

Tugas Village has, after all, been without power since Typhoon Haiyan
(Yolanda) made its devastating impact here almost two months ago.

One could hardly imagine a more ill-equipped party and yet, as I danced
and sang alongside some two dozen community members, I must confess to
having the time of my life.

I arrived a few hours earlier amid some confusion. After a treacherous
motorbike ride across an unlit dirt track, my arrival at the village induced
a mild state of panic among my hosts who rarely (if ever) receive foreign
visitors in this far-flung corner of the island. Indeed, owing to a
logistical mix-up, no one at the village was expecting me at all.

“We hadn’t intended to celebrate much this year – not even a Christmas
dinner – so we don’t have much to offer you,” Jose, the community president,
told me apologetically.

The thought that I might be feeling alone this Christmas seemed to
galvanize the entire community into action, and they immediately began
making preparations for an impromptu dinner.

Before I even had a moment to urge upon my guests that they needn’t make
any special plans, one of the residents, a local fisherman, was already
presenting a couple of squid he had caught earlier that day while another
resident lit a fire.

As the village suddenly morphed into a hive of activity, I was drawn,
almost magnetically, towards a group of excited children who had gathered
expectantly around the motorbike. “Bilisan mo! Halika na! (Hurry up! Come
with me!),” they urged me, as a boisterous tug-of-war broke out amongst
those most eager to drag me off to the wooden gazebo where they usually
played.

Given the time of year, I had stopped off in town on the way to buy a few
simple presents for the children of Tugas Village. My instinct, upon
arriving at our play area, was to hand these out first, as I wasn’t quite
sure how else I might pass the time with such a large group of young
children who barely spoke a word of English.

The gifts were warmly received since, from what I could tell, they were
the only presents the children would receive this Christmas.

I couldn’t help but notice, however, that their reaction to receiving
material gifts did not match the sheer enthusiasm and energy they showed for
my simply being there.

In stark contrast to the western culture that has shaped me, this
community seems to have retained the gift of exulting in the sheer
simplicity of a shared humanity.

Housing Project of Municipality of Hernani located at Brgy San
Miguel(Pinasuan area)-A joint project of Gawad Kalinga and Municipality of
Hernani...donor of units are Mr. Boy Abunda & MS. Kris Aquino

Resilience in adversity

With bedtime approaching for the children, Alfie, a young man roughly my
age, took the torch to show me around their village. 2013 has been a tough
year for them. The houses they had built with their own sweat only a few
years earlier took the full force of Typhoon Haiyan, with only two out of 16
now having a roof, while another four were destroyed entirely.

Their vegetable patch, from which they grew different crops to feed
themselves and to sell at the local market, was destroyed, whilst access to
running water or electricity had still not been restored.

Alfie’s home is one of those seriously damaged that it is temporarily
uninhabitable, so he led me inside the house he shared with another family.
“We are so blessed that our neighbors have taken us in. We built these homes
together – and now we support each other through the tough times,” he told
me, sitting on the bed he, his wife and three children currently shared.
Another entire family apparently slept on the bed opposite.

To any outsider, 2013 would be regarded as having dealt a major blow to
their dreams, and yet the way Alfie sees the brighter positives in disaster
seems to sum up the distinctly Filipino way of dealing with such setbacks.

Staring at the gaping hole in the roof above, he went on: “My wife and I
stay awake at night watching the stars. To think that we had never noticed
them before – it’s actually quite romantic!” And with that he threw a
suggestive wink at his wife, who recoiled in embarrassment.

Re-joining the party that was now in full swing, I began eating and
drinking, dancing, singing and chatting with Alfie and other members of the
community as if they were life-long friends.

Becoming family

As midnight approached, Jose, the village president, showed me to his
house. “You are always welcome at number two Tugas Village, because you are
already like family to us,” he told me, as he bid good night.

That evening, I lay awake for several hours, struggling to get
comfortable on the single sheet of hardwood which constituted my bed.
Growing increasingly restless at my inability to fall asleep, I eventually
got up and made a visit to the bathroom, located at the back of the house.

On my way, I noticed that Jose’s wife was sleeping on a plank of wood
even narrower than mine – and that she was sharing this space with their
three children. Going further, I stumbled across Jose lying on a simple
bench in the shed outside. My own self-pity was immediately offset by the
realization that I probably had the best ‘bed’ in the entire village. Not
only I was sleeping in one of only two houses which still had roofs, but
Jose and his wife had given me the marital bed.

As I lay my head on the wooden plank once more, sleep remained beyond me,
although this time my thoughts were filled not with self-pity but with
humble gratitude.

Separated from my nearest and dearest by thousands of miles, I arrived
unannounced at a community I had never met before and knew virtually nothing
about. The mabuhay ladies were right: perhaps for the first time during my
journey, I was the one who felt vulnerable and alone.

Now, a few hours later, I was reflecting upon one of the most memorable
and meaningful Christmases of my life – because this community had loved and
cared for me in a way I scarcely feel I deserve.

I paused to reflect how I might react if a young man, unknown to me, were
to appear suddenly on my doorstep claiming he had nowhere to spend Christmas
and no one to spend it with. Would I welcome him into my home, ask him to
join me at the dinner table and offer him my bed while I sleep on the couch?

The society I come from would surely find various perfectly justifiable
“reasons” for not doing so, and yet the wonderful welcome I have been given
here reveals my human inadequacies.

This isolated community has somehow put me more in touch with my own
humanity, and my earlier sense of loneliness at being separated from my
blood family has been replaced by a new sense of belonging to a wider
family, which it seems will do anything for me.

I am reminded of something that Dale Lugue, the volunteer I met at the
beginning of my journey, said to me in Bagong Silang: “If you make the
effort to come alongside the poor, they will never leave you behind.”

Meanwhile, by choosing to spend my Christmas here, I seem to have sent a
powerful message to this community that they matter.

Previously intending not to have a Christmas dinner this year, they now
talk of having had one of their most enjoyable Christmas celebrations in
some time, and the experience seemed to have given them renewed hope for the
future.

Even on Christmas Day, it seems that it is our presence, and not our
presents, that really count.

When GK founder Tony Meloto first mentioned the expression “genius of the
poor” to me, I felt skeptical. At that time, a patronizing pity for the poor
made me see them as principally objects of charity. What they may have to
offer me never even occurred to me. After all, I was the one blessed with a
world-class education and a wonderful, loving family. What could I possibly
learn from the marginalized and lost?

Genius, I have discovered, lies not just in individual brilliance in some
area of human activity, but in a supremely positive, humane attitude to
life, to its ups and downs, to its unfairness and its opportunities, and
above all to other people – family, neighbor or stranger.

In this respect I have glimpsed genius in the impoverished community of
Bantayan as well as many other places I have been privileged to visit. And
in the process I have been taught, not how to pass an exam or appear
intelligent, but simply how to live a more authentic human life.

The author is a British journalist who came to the Philippines on a
short-term assignment. He has since stayed over two years in the country,
volunteering for GK and other causes. “The Genius of the Poor” is available
at Fully Booked and Human Nature stores nationwide.

MANILA, Philippines - For the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), 2014 was a year
of scandal that saw its transformation from premier prison facility to a
center of illegal trade in drugs and guns.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has enlisted the help of law enforcement
and intelligence agencies – the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police
(PNP) – to neutralize well-entrenched syndicates operating inside the
nine-hectare prison facility.

For the past years, gang leaders “living like kings” have succeeded in
continuing to direct their illegal activities from inside the prison, said
De Lima.

Last week, law enforcers raided kubols (shelters) at the NBP, leading to
the discovery of high-powered guns, drugs, cash amounting to over P2
million, expensive watches and other smuggled items.

At least 19 convicted drug lords, mostly Chinese and Taiwanese, and crime
gang leaders were pulled out from their luxury kubols and confined at the
extension detention center of the NBI.

Inmates’ privileges such as visitation and good conduct credits were
suspended pending investigation of the contraband found inside their secret
rooms.

De Lima has ordered a continued crackdown on high profile prisoners to
restore the shattered pillar of the justice system in the country.

The BuCor is the fourth pillar of the criminal justice system, which
includes law enforcement, prosecution, correction and community.

It is supposed to protect the public and prevent crimes by providing
convicted criminals opportunities for reformation for their eventual return
to their respective communities.

When a crime is committed, law enforcement plays its role by arresting
the suspected criminal, then prosecution files a criminal complaint, courts
hear and decide the case and the Bucor implements “the safekeeping of
prisoners” sentenced by courts.

The overcrowded NBP, built for 8,700 inmates but now teeming with 23,000
prisoners mostly serving life sentences in the maximum security compound,
has created a four-wall community for high profile convicts like drug lords
who have practically ruled the prison facility.

Reports of a shabu laboratory, prostitution and other illegal activities
began leaking in media.

An NBP source said at least 80 percent of inmates are convicted of
heinous crimes. The premier facility has become a permanent asylum for
hundreds of drug lords, gambling lords and local “mafiosi.”

“In the four-wall community, there are those categorized as sexually
deranged, mentally unstable, criminally insane, violent types and all
considered as pure predators,” a source said.

He said from the leaders of various prison gangs operating within the
enclosed the facility, gang leaders, mostly drug lords, rise, imposing
control and exercising jurisdiction side by side with institutional workers
and security personnel.

Haven for foreign drug lords

The proliferation of the illegal drug trade inside the prison has revived
the call for the re-imposition of the death penalty as there is no room for
reformation of convicted drug lords, Sen. Vicente Sotto III said.

Sotto said the Philippines has become a playground for foreign drug
syndicates because convicted drug lords can still operate right in their
cells at the NBP.

Because of the lax prison system and the absence of death sentence, drug
lords prefer to operate in the Philippines where they can bribe to get their
way even while serving life terms, Sotto noted.

A total of 5,872 smuggled items like drugs, improvised weapons and guns,
14 golf carts, electric bikes and air conditioning units were confiscated
when shelters at the NBP were raided last week.

To address congestion at the NBP, administrators allowed the kubols to be
built at the maximum security compound where wealthy inmates could stay.

This paved the way for inmates to have secret air-conditioned rooms
equipped with Internet connection and other amenities like jacuzzi.
Makeshift shabu laboratories were also built inside the kubols.

At present, there are 3,790 shift rooms inside dormitories shared by
14,000 inmates at the maximum security compound.

Prostitution

Prostitution is also a problem at the NBP.

Sex workers have managed to enter the prison in connivance with corrupt
jail guards and officials to cater to the needs of rich inmates.

To address the problem, the BuCor has imposed a screening policy on
female visitors.

At least 101 women who presented bogus papers to gain access to the
facility have been arrested.

BuCor has also cut down the number of volunteer groups to prevent the
entry of contraband through non-legitimate visitors.

As of Sept. 16, 175 groups were prevented from entering the facility
after they were found to be fly-by-night organizations.

Restoring the criminal justice system

The full implementation of the BuCor modernization program will pave the
way for the restoration of the country’s correction system.

Bucayu said the review of reformation policies and accomplishments of the
rehabilitation program is ongoing.

“Transformation of the NBP into a community-oriented environment through
quasi-local government structure is being put in place,” he said.

The pangkat or gang type of organization structures are now renamed “barangays.”

And finally, this year saw the approval of the Implementing Rules and
Regulations of Republic Act 10575 or the BuCor Modernization Act, which
provides for professionalization of personnel and restructuring of the
system.

The plan includes the transfer of the NBP to Laur, Nueva Ecija to
decongest the prison.

“With the many changes being implemented right now, we hope to make the
NBP a premier prison facility again,” Bucayu said.

MANILA, Philippines - The moves to impeach President Aquino are still
hanging in the air, with the House of Representatives adjourning its session
last Wednesday without finally dismissing the three complaints against him.

The House failed to vote on the justice committee recommendation to throw
out the complaints filed by Aquino’s critics and endorsed by militant
party-list representatives belonging to the Makabayan bloc.

The same group doggedly tried to remove then President Arroyo through the
only legal means to do so by filing annual impeachment cases against her.
Arroyo’s allies consistently threw out the complaints.

Last Sept. 2, the justice committee, chaired by Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas
Jr., who belongs to the ruling Liberal Party, voted overwhelmingly to
dismiss the three complaints against Aquino.

The President is insulated from any new cases, but he is still
theoretically vulnerable to impeachment because the House has not finally
killed the three complaints against him.

AQUINO

If all of Aquino’s critics and political enemies could gather the votes
of one-third or 97 of the 290 members of the House, they could send the
complaints directly to the Senate for trial, as what happened in the case of
former chief justice Renato Corona.

“There is absolutely no chance at all that the President could be
impeached,” Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said when asked if there is
any chance that the necessary vote could be mustered during the month-long
Christmas recess of Congress

“At most, the impeachers could gather only 18 votes – those who voted
against the 2015 budget proposed by the President,” he said.

He said the House did not purposely call for a vote on the justice
committee report “because we were pressed for time to approve the two budget
bills – the 2015 budget and the additional outlay for 2014 – and the joint
resolution on emergency powers, among other important measures.”

“We gave priority to those measures, especially the budget bills and the
joint resolution, which had to be approved before yearend,” he said. “That
was how confident we were that the President cannot be impeached while the
committee report is awaiting final action,” he stressed.

Gonzales added that the House would finally vote on the justice committee
recommendation when Congress resumes its session next month.

Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Dasmariñas City in Cavite, who is a leader of
the National Unity Party, agreed with the majority leader’s assessment.

Still, Barzaga said the pendency of the impeachment cases “is like a
Damocles’ sword hanging over P-Noy’s head.”

“If P-Noy were an unpopular President, his critics and political enemies
would have an easier time gathering the necessary votes to impeach him,” he
said.

He said Aquino’s impeachers would have to reckon with his popular support
if they try to gather the votes to send their complaints to the Senate.

“There is also the issue of the President’s successor, in case he is
ousted,” he added without elaborating.

Barzaga is obviously referring to Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is
being investigated by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee for alleged
overpricing of at least two Makati buildings when he was mayor and for other
corruption allegations.

The three pending impeachment complaints against Aquino are based largely
on the Supreme Court (SC) decision declaring at least four practices under
the administration’s Disbursement Acceleration Program as unconstitutional.

The SC has not resolved a Malacañang motion appealing its ruling.

A fourth complaint anchored on the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement
(EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States was barred, since it
was presented after the first three complaints were filed and referred to
the justice committee.

Impeachment filers and other militant groups have questioned EDCA’s
constitutionality before the SC, which has yet to resolve the issue.

This year is the first time Aquino faced an impeachment proceeding. It is
not clear if his critics would resort to an annual serial filing of
complaints as they did with Arroyo.

THE SUNSHINE TROOPS The 296-strong Korean Araw joint contingent who helped
in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of “Yolanda”-ravaged communities in
Leyte prepare to go back home after a year of deployment.
DANNY PETILLA

PALO, Leyte—A few days before Christmas last year, Col. Lee Chulwon was
preparing for the holidays with his family in his native Seoul.

But instead of spending the holidays with his family, Lee, on orders from
his government, embarked on South Korea’s largest peacetime humanitarian
mission ever: help its close ally the Philippines recover from the
destruction brought by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan).

Like the good soldier that he is, Lee bid his family goodbye, packed his
bags and found himself surveying the near apocalyptic wasteland that was
Tacloban City, this town and nearby Tanauan town where more than 7,000
perished during the storm.

As Filipinos faced their bleakest Christmas in years, 540 South Korean
troops led by Lee who arrived in two six-month deployments prepared for
South Korea’s biggest and longest international campaign that came in the
wake of history’s strongest storm ever to hit land.

As the ravages of Yolanda started burning news wires and the Internet
around the world, a curious thought crossed Lee’s mind.

Philippine training

“I had a feeling she (South Korean President Park Geun-hye) would send
me,” Lee said through an interpreter.

Lee graduated from an officers’ course at the Joint Command and Staffs
College in Camp Aguinaldo in 1998, which made him a natural choice for Park
for the Philippine mission.

When Lee—a decorated 30-year veteran—landed in this town on Dec. 4 last year
to do reconnaissance mapping, he could not believe his eyes.

“It was a war zone like no other,” said Lee, who saw action in two major
conflicts: the civil war in East Timor in 2000 and the war in Iraq in 2004.

A Presbyterian Christian, the 52-year-old Lee admitted he prayed for
strength and divine guidance after seeing the overwhelming devastation.

“It was not very encouraging to be a Filipino in those days,” he said.

Acting on official request of assistance from the Philippine government,
the South Korean joint military contingent known as Araw, a word coined by
Lee himself, arrived in Cebu province on Dec. 28. The troops—and tons of
heavy equipment aboard two of the Korean Navy’s landing ship tanks—were in
Leyte province the next day.

While it was winter in their homeland, the Korean soldiers, mostly in
their early 20s, were thrust into Leyte’s humid weather, but made their
presence immediately felt by clearing tons of debris to make roads passable
again, fumigating dirt-laden communities— and by burying the corpses of more
than 1,400 people who died in the storm.

“I can’t say we did the dirty work. But that’s part of the territory,”
Lee said.

Precious gift

From Jan. 3 until Nov. 27 this year, the Araw contingent rebuilt 67
buildings, including 37 schools and eight hospitals and four houses of
Filipino war veterans who fought in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953.

“What a precious gift their presence here has become to us,” said Korean
War veteran Domingo C. Teves Sr., 89. His damaged house in Tacloban City was
rebuilt by the Araw forces.

“Where will we be without our Korean friends,” said Erwin Ocana, mayor of
Tolosa town where the Koreans rebuilt eight schoolhouses and seven other
government facilities.

But like babies demanding to suckle from the same milk bottle, the mayors
at one time were clamoring for use of the South Koreans’ heavy equipment.

No stranger to the intractable terrain of local politics and turf wars,
Lee met these kinks head on.

Personal account

“We took the bull by the horns with honesty rather than with petty
tricks,” Lee wrote in his book “Repaying Sacrifices of Blood with Sweat
Drops.”

Published by Tacloban-based printer Tres Marias, the 309-page book is a
personal account of Lee’s yearlong experience as head of Araw.

In his book, Lee expressed his frustrations at some of the organizational
problems he ran into, like the habitual tardiness of local mayors that often
derailed official events.

“I was sad to notice the lack of respect for the concept of time by some
leading people of society,” Lee wrote.

Officials at the Korean public affairs office said it was a dig at Palo
Mayor Remedios Loreto Petilla, matriarch of the powerful Petilla political
dynasty in this province, who makes members of civil organizations, the
military and the clergy wait for hours during various public functions.

“We are here investing heavily in your reconstruction, and your mayor (Petilla)
forces us to wait for hours, that is not right,” a Korean officer close to
Lee said.

In his book, Lee also disclosed how he sent home three young conscripts
for getting drunk and ending up in the local massage parlor in Tacloban. The
ironic twist is that the Koreans were led by a Filipino soldier.

“It pained me to have to cut short their duties, but I was left with no
choice,” Lee wrote.

Asian laggard

An ardent student of history, Lee is mystified by the Philippines’
falling behind its neighbors.

An Asian economic powerhouse in the 1960s next only to Japan, the
Philippines has lagged behind other economies in the region (39th in 2013
gross domestic product [GDP], at $272 billion) even with rising economic
growth, while South Korea, economically backward in 1962, has vaulted to the
top (14th in GDP in 2013 with $1.22 trillion).

Lee said he learned some of the reasons from his assignment here.

“I thought there was some small behavioral aspect that was blocking and
obstructing the growth of the Philippines, which has great potential,” Lee
said.

But nobody was talking about any negatives during the Araw mission
completion ceremony at their camp in Candahug village here on Dec. 12.

“Let it be known that the Filipino people will forever be indebted to
you,” said Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Gregorio Pio
Catapang Jr.

“Lives were relived and friendships forged by our soldiers of peace
here,” said Korean Ambassador to the Philippines Hyuk Lee during the same
ceremony where Korea—home to 54,000 Filipino migrant workers—pledged to
assist the Philippines even after its troops’ departure.

Heavy equipment donated

During the ceremony, the Korean government turned over P200 million worth
of excavators, forklifts, dump trucks, tractors, payloaders and backhoes—the
same equipment that its troops used during the typhoon cleanup—to the AFP.

“Technically, only our bodies are departing,” Lee said with a laugh.

“Lee is a good friend, a sincere and passionate leader. I will miss him,”
said Mayor Pelagio Tecson Jr., whose town, Tanauan, made Lee an adopted
citizen.

But what inspired Lee during his work here was the smiles on children’s
faces. Their smiles reminded him of his own children, whom he had not seen
for almost a year.

Lee said his absence forced him to miss important events in his three
children’s lives, like graduations and the debut of his oldest daughter,
Si-ah, 25, a famous actress back in Seoul, as the love interest of South
Korean superstar Rain in the TV series “You’re Too Adorable For Me” on
Korean Broadcasting System on Dec. 13.

But there were Lee’s other loved ones as well—his wife, Sungsook Jung,
51, daughter Ju-ah, a 24-year-old Christian pastor, and his only son, Janggi,
20, with whom he would love to be reunited now that his deployment was over.

Home for Christmas

Like the rest of his 296 troops who would be leaving the Philippines on
Sunday aboard two Korean Air planes bound for their homeland, Lee was eager
to be with his family on Christmas Day.

“Christmas with my family? Now, that is a treat I’m looking forward to,”
he said.

FROM THE MANILA TIMES

LRT, MRT fare up on Jan. 4 December 20, 2014
6:35 pm

Starting January 4, 2015, riders of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) 1 and 2
and Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT) will have to pay more because the Department
of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has finally decided to increase
fares for the three rail lines.

“It’s a tough decision, but it had to be made. It’s been several years since
an increase was proposed. We delayed its implementation one last time until
after the Christmas season. While 2015 will see increased fares, it will
also see marked improvements in our LRT and MRT services,” DOTC Secretary
Joseph Emilio Abaya said on Saturday.

Under the new rates, a base fare of P11 will be implemented. An additional
P1 will be charged per kilometer.

The increase is in line with the 2011-2016 Medium-Term Philippine
Development Plan (PDP). The PDP directs the adoption of the “user-pays”
principle in the pricing of transportation services. Currently, the
government allocates P12 billion a year to subsidize LRT and MRT operations.

Under the “user-pays” principle, riders will shoulder more of the cost for
their own trips. The fare hike entails a shift from the current zonal fare
scheme to a distance-based system, meaning that commuters will be charged
based on the distance they travel. ROSALIE PERIABRAS

PHILIPPINE Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities
(Paascu) president Fr. Joel Tabora, SJ filed criminal and administrative
complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman against Commission on Higher
Education (CHED) Chairperson Dr. Patricia Licuanan and the president of a
computer group over an alleged anomalous deal with a private company.

The same complaint was lodged against Leo Querubin, president of the
Philippine Computer Society (PCS).

Fr. Tabora was assisted by Paascu legal counsel Joseph Noel Estrada.

The complaint is based on a Memorandum of Agreement dated April 21, 2014,
where the commission allocated to the PCS P10 million as mobilization fund
for the creation of an accrediting body to be known as the PCS-Information
Computing Accreditation Board (PICAB).

Paascu claimed that Licuanan and Querubin violated RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft
and Corrupt Practices Act particularly Sec. 3 (E) and (G). The group said
Licuanan did not comply with the procurement law.

It also claimed that the PCS is not qualified to render the services
provided for under the MOA because it is not an accrediting agency.

Tabora accused Licuanan of deliberately ignoring existing accrediting bodies
under the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP) when
he entered into the agreement which he said was disadvantageous to the
government.

He said Licuanan gave PCS unwarranted benefits, advantage and preference and
exceeded her and CHED’s powers when she entered into the questioned MOA.

The Times tried to get a clarification from the CHED but officials said they
want to look at the complaint before issuing any statement.

The commission said it will wait for the evaluation of the Ombudsman and
answer the allegations.
Last June, militant groups filed a criminal case against Licuanan and CHED
other officials for allegedly neglecting to handle students’ complaints on
tuition increases.

The complainants, which included the National Union of Students of the
Philippines, College Editors Guild of the Philippines, Anakbayan national
president Vencer Crisostomo, League of Filipino Students and Rise for
Education coordinator Vincent Sudaria, accused Licuanan, commissioners Maria
Cynthia Rose Bautista, Minella Alarcon, Alex Brillantes Jr., and Ruperto
Sanggalang, Executive Director Julito Vitriolo, CHED NCR Regional Director
Leonida Calagui, and former CHED NCR Regional Director Catherine Castañeda
of “gross inexcusable incompetence, inefficiency, and negligence” for their
failure to act on students’ complaints on time.

“More than two months after the complaints have been filed, CHED has not
released a final decision on any of the pending petitions, thus violating
its own rules on tuition increases while also committing gross incompetence,
gross inefficiency, and gross neglect of duty,” they said.